Since the beginning of 2014 we've noticed a lot of companies in Ventura are becoming overwhelmed with work. For most, it is a good problem to have, but it struck us how so many people are in similar mind sets right now . . . thinking ahead.

With any company, thinking ahead is not only critical, it is everything. We thought about some examples of how companies rely on thinking ahead to make their livings. We tried to think of some amazing cases and we realized there are too many examples to list! Here are some great examples:

⦁ Commodities traders literally make or lose fortunes depending on their ability to think ahead. Their wealth depends on watching market and industry trends then planning accordingly. Your company - although perhaps on a smaller scale - is no different. ⦁ Bill Gates' and Paul Allen's foresight into the personal computer revolution allowed them to realize the potential profits to be gained from acquiring the licensing rights to MS-DOS - this became the foundation of their fortune. Licensing personal computer operating systems in the late '70s / early '80s obviously required dedication to thinking forward and planning ahead. The benefits were obviously huge. ⦁ Mark Cuban predicted the huge potential in software licensing, and later internet broadcasting. As a pioneer of the internet webcast Cuban eventually sold his Broadcast.com creation for 6 billion dollars - thinking ahead seems to have paid off yet again. Others may have had similar ideas, perhaps even before Cuban, but he implemented his first and established his company as the standard.The internet is the type of place where it really pays to be first. It is much easier to maintain top search engine rankings than it is to climb the rankings and dethrone the king. The copmany that strikes first gets a leg up on their competitors and maintains a huge advantage (look at Microsoft) - provided they run their online campaign properly.

Even once you've reached a place that seems comfortable you still can't allow yourself to become complacent because your share will steadily decline. We always observe how hugely successful companies - think of large corporations such as McDonalds - seem to invest huge amounts of their capital in continuous marketing.

SEO is one of the toughest, most competitive, industries because its advantages are great and as a result everybody wants to get in on the action and reap the rewards. The sooner you start work on adding legitimacy to your business in the eyes of users and consumers the better.